When it comes to making predictions about 2016, there are lots of important numbers to follow. The unemployment rate. Consumer confidence. The president’s approval rating. The horse race polls. But, in my mind, the most important data point to follow is the one which measures Americans’ desire to stay the […] Read more »
GOP Congress takes over amid public pessimism about an end to divisions
As Republicans take control of both chambers of Congress for the first time since 2006, their leaders, like new Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, have been promising to become more productive, especially in advance of the 2016 presidential elections. But after years of fierce partisan warfare, Americans are deeply skeptical […] Read more »
Ignorance, Partisanship Drive False Beliefs about Obama, Iraq
False beliefs about the invasion of Iraq and President Obama’s citizenship still flourish among Americans, according to the most recent national survey from Fairleigh Dickinson University’s PublicMind. More than four-in-ten Americans say it is likely that U.S. forces found active weapons of mass destruction program in Iraq after the 2003 […] Read more »
G.O.P. Turns to the Courts to Aid Agenda
As Republicans prepare to take full control of Congress on Tuesday, the party’s leaders are counting on judges, not their newly elected majority on Capitol Hill, to roll back President Obama’s aggressive second-term agenda and block his executive actions on health care, climate change and immigration. … As the new […] Read more »
Obama’s presidency has been remarkably steady — at least in his approval rating
If you go play around with Gallup’s interactive presidential polling tool (which all good political obsessives should do with some regularity), you’ll notice something: Since the end of his first year, and with the exception of a spike around the 2012 elections, President Obama’s approval rating has been unusually steady. […] Read more »
Jeb Bush, and Two Myths About Shifting to the Right
Even before Jeb Bush announced he was exploring a run for the presidency in 2016, the question emerged: Could Mr. Bush win the nomination without pandering to the Republican party’s conservative base in the primaries? The answer from many strategists was an uncomfortable no. Moreover, these same strategists are quick […] Read more »